


Forest for the Trees

by tothineownelfbetrue



Category: Disenchantment (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Awkward Tension, Awkwardness, Feelings Realization, Forests, Fortune Cookies, Getting Together, Liking elves is dumb, Love Confessions, Luci harasses the waiter, Luci hates feelings, M/M, Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, POV Third Person, Pining, Prompt Fic, Proverbs, Short One Shot, can't see the forest for the trees, cryptic fortunes, except not really, generic fortunes, milwordy, no beta we die like men, or this particular elf anyway, these dumbasses just need to be honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26338072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tothineownelfbetrue/pseuds/tothineownelfbetrue
Summary: Fortune cookies are so generic that they're completely useless.  They have nothing valuable to contribute and Luci is not amused by these nuggets of trite 'wisdom'.  Surely some rehashed quote won't have any meaningful effect on his life?[A quick prompt challenge for Milwordy.]Or: that weird fic where fortunes lead to self-reflection.
Relationships: Elfo/Luci (Disenchantment)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42





	Forest for the Trees

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the prompts I did for Milwordy. I have a few more fics coming soon, as well as a LOT more chapters of Being Orpheus and some other longfics too!

-

So. This was one of the stupidest things Elfo had ever made Luci waste his time on.

“Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees?” Luci scoffed as he tossed the broken cookie across the table, cramming the slip of paper into his mouth and chewing on it with exaggerated crunching noises that shouldn’t even have been possible, given the item in question. Elfo glanced at him from the corner of his eye, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat before he reached out to pick up the bits of the cookie, nibbling on one before making a slight face. Luci ignored him. “I mean, what does that even mean?”

“It’s a proverb.” The elf server said, small form drawn up straight. He’d been dealing with Luci’s constant criticisms for the duration of their meal. Everything had been criticized, from the table layout to each individual dish. “It means that sometimes you miss out on something close and obvious when you’re too focused on the big picture.”

“It’s ancient wisdom, Luci.” Elfo piped up. 

“Right.” Luci laughed, then snatched the cookie fragments out of Elfo’s hand to toss them at the server. “Well that might be something that happens to you elves, but demons are all-seeing. Nothing gets by us. Now, you’re covering the meal, right?” Luci wouldn’t have paid for this himself, but since Elfo had offered, he’d come along. 

He wasn’t sure what kind of masochistic streak Elfo was on lately because he was taking Luci all sorts of places on his dime. Luci figured it was probably an attempt to show off his newfound wealth - he’d finally managed to get a new job just outside of Elf Alley, mostly involving brokering candy sales to local bars and restaurants to supply them with elven goods. Luci had seen the cut he was getting and it netted him a significant amount of gold, but only because the rest of the elves thought it was pretty worthless still.

Whatever. If Elfo wanted to show off by buying him nice stuff, he’d take it. It wasn’t like the elf had that many people to buy for.

Elfo paid the server in silence, though Luci did notice him giving a bigger tip than either the food or the work warranted. As they left the restaurant, Luci was eager to get home and get back to drinking. Maybe he’d even break out the weed. This seemed like a good evening to get high while his belly was full of sub-par food.

To his surprise, Elfo diverted away from their apartment. When Luci hesitated, ready to pul away and leave the elf to go off wherever on his own, Elfo called out, a bit hesitant. “Want to… go for a walk?”

“A walk?” the demon scoffed, then hesitated. There was something odd about the look on Elfo’s face. Luci’s ears flicked back a little and he was reminded of the way he’d felt when they first moved in together. He’d been a bit hopeful then, for what, he didn’t want to think or admit to himself. He’d learned quickly to quash it, especially given their whole spat over Kissy. Still, there were moments, like now, when it crossed his mind again and he allowed himself the slightest hint of sappiness. 

“Sure,” he said, finally, against his better judgment. “Let’s walk.”

The path to the Enchanted forest was pretty clear from the outside. Going too far in wasn’t exactly safe, but Luci could see the appeal of the outskirts of the woods, where there were just enough trees to be different from the squalor of dreamland while not being in the midst of the most dangerous areas of the forest. It was almost scenic.

“Hey look. I see both forest AND trees.” Luci pointed out with a smirk. “Just proves that elf proverbs only apply to elves.”

Elfo was silent, matching Luci’s steps as they walked side by side. He said nothing. Then, as they drew near a section of the woods where the path went deeper, Elfo finally paused. He sat down on a fallen tree, his legs dangling on the log. Luci went on a few more steps without realizing that his companion had stopped, then finally caught on and backtracked to stand in front of Elfo.

“What?” The look on Elfo’s face clued him in that the elf was frustrated. He was biting his lip in much the same manner he had when he was reluctant to tell Bean something that was on his mind. It looked like he might actually be… upset. Was he really offended by Luci’s casual dismissal of elf stuff? It wasn’t like it was some kind of surprise since Luci was pretty dismissive of just about anything mortals got up to. It wasn’t just elves.

...Elves were easy targets though. Humans were usually too stupid to notice they were being insulted.

Elfo shook his head at that, staring down at the ground in front of Luci for a second. As the silence stretched out, the demon felt a prickling sensation under his fur. He shuffled a bit, trying not to be too obvious about it. Trust the elf to make a perfectly normal mockery situation into something uncomfortable. Stupid Elfo. Then again, Elfo had a tendency to make a lot of things uncomfortable, especially right now.

Especially Luci’s… feelings. 

The demon tried to clamp down on that train of thought as Elfo finally spoke up after his long moment of pathetic sulking. “Did you really not like the meal?” He asked, his voice pitched soft.

Well, it hadn’t exactly been amazing, but considering the many things Luci ate that most people would have found completely disgusting, it hasn’t exactly been unpalatable. Luci’s shoulders rose in a jerky shrug. “It was… okay. I mean for elf food.”

Elfo still didn’t look at him and Luci felt that weird prickling sensation increasing. It was getting harder to not move, especially to not reach out and grab Elfo and tell him to get to the damn point. 

“It just seems like you don’t like doing stuff with me,” Elfo said, at last, his gaze darting to meet the demon’s. There was actual disappointment on the elf’s face and that, at least, Luci could understand. Elfo was making an effort to do some bonding thing or whatever with him and it wasn’t working. Truthfully, while part of it was because Elfo’s idea of ‘fun’ was severely lacking, Luci had to admit - at least to himself - that another part of it was his own unrequited feelings.

There. He’d admitted it. He had feelings for the goddamn elf. That was a real kick in the proverbial teeth. At the very least, he’d always thought if he had feelings for someone, they’d be someone cool. Someone badass or sexy or hell, he’d even settle for someone extremely smart, maybe. But Elfo? He was decidedly none of those things.

And yet, it was Elfo that made him feel happy. Even in the times when he was furious, or when the world was crazy and he was ready to straight-up murder someone, Elfo was around to provide a bit of comfort or some much-needed reason to the mix. Sure, sometimes Luci hated the elf for being a wet blanket, but afterward he could usually acknowledge to himself that going with Elfo’s ‘feelings’ had worked out for the better.

God damn. He hated being in love. He hated the way it made him wonder if that look of disappointment on Elfo’s face could be anything more than platonic. Because that was all it ever was.

“That’s because I _don’t_ like doing stuff with you,” Luci said, voice flat. It was a little mean of him, but he was so tired of feeling this way. He wanted more. He _deserved_ more. And if Elfo wasn’t going to give him more then it was fine for him to be mad about it, wasn’t it?

Elfo bit his lip at that, there was a slight hitch to his breath for a few seconds and his eyes narrowed a little. For a few seconds, Luci was convinced that he was going to cry and he was torn over whether to be proud of the fact or whether to feel guilty. Ultimately he had time for neither as Elfo doubled down and asked another question that Luci was even less sure how to answer. “Do you… not like me?”

What a loaded question. 

“Like” wasn’t precisely the word that Luci would have used. Even in “just a friend” way, he hated to admit to having soft feelings for someone. It was all he could do to tolerate Bean claiming that he was her friend. Elfo, though, that situation was complicated.

_Love was a bit more than liking but it was also not something he was ever planning to bring up either. He wasn’t some kind of sap._

After a delay that stretched out long enough to be somewhat incriminating, Luci mustered enough energy to clear his throat, shuffling a little where he stood before he caught himself. “No.” He said, finally. The word came out as a croak and he hoped it would seem more like offense than nerves. Elfo never had been the most perceptive person.

At the words, Elfo turned his head away for a second, eyes closed. He let out a small breath and Luci winced a little without meaning to. His pointed ears went back flat. Elfo did genuinely look miserable hearing it. In his head they were probably BFFs or something ridiculous. When he looked back at Luci though, he was more composed than the demon had expected.

“Do you really mean that?” he said, and in the fact of a more pointed questioning, Luci was struggling to keep himself together and he braced his feet to stand his ground with this new line of questioning.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Then… why did you even agree to come on a date?”

“Because you kept asking!” Luci snapped back impatiently. He was set to launch into a longer tirade about the persistence and stupidity of elves, but something drew him up short. There was something wrong. Something wasn’t clicking in his brain and he stood there for a moment, just staring as his ears gave a slow twitch. It didn’t add up… “I… a... what?” 

_He’d heard wrong. That was all._

Elfo froze, eyes wide for a second. Then he backpedaled on the words, raising both hands. “I meant… Not like… a _date_ date… but more like a… _friend_ date. That’s a thing… I’m pretty sure.” His cheeks were starting to turn red while he sputtered, trying to recover from a case of chronic foot in mouth disease. Everything he said only made it worse until he finally lapsed into an awkward silence, his hands braced against his knees, not daring to look in the demon’s direction.

Well, worse for Elfo, maybe. For Luci it was more of a revelation that he hadn’t ever expected. He was no fool. Maybe ‘friend dates’ were a thing that could happen, but Elfo’s reaction and his complete failure to maintain any composure during his lousy excuses gave the elf away. He’d always been a bad liar.

It was amazing then, that Luci had never really _caught on_ to this before.

“Holy shit.” He muttered and he could see Elfo’s slight flinch at the swear. But Elfo was probably thinking about it the wrong way, the way Luci had been doing before. He was thinking too much about their whole situation, the awkwardness of the human world, and their place in it. There were so many minutiae to the situation that it was easy to just think about all those little things that could get wrong instead of the biggest, most important question.

Luci’s ears drooped for a moment, his entire stance loosening up as he remembered being invited to dinner and spending the entire evening wondering what Elfo stood to gain, analyzing everything like he was expecting the curtains to be pulled back and expose what the elf was up to. He’d been preoccupied with the thought of how other people might react, of wondering about what kind of obstacles their relationships with everyone else - but especially Bean - might set in their way. 

“Can’t see the forest for the trees,” he muttered under his breath, low enough that Elfo didn’t seem to notice. The elf was currently hiding his face in his hands and probably hoping that if he didn’t look at Luci, that the demon would simply cease to exist.

Well, that wasn’t happening. Now that Luci knew, he wasn’t planning to go anywhere

“Hey!” he barked out, harsher than he’d planned, a bit more hysterical. “Look at me!”

Elfo hesitated and now that Luci was paying attention, he could see the slight shake of the elf’s hands. But Elfo usually listened when given orders, at least when those orders were coming from a non-elf - if Elfo’s past as a rebel in Elfwood was to be believed - and after a few seconds of hesitation, he dropped his hands again, letting them settle in his lap. His shoulders were still slumped in misery and resignation as he raised his head to meet Luci’s eyes.

“Luci. I… um…” He fumbled over what was undoubtedly an apology but Luci had no time for that nonsense. Not now. 

“No.” The demon said, cutting Elfo off. “Now I get to talk.” He waited a moment, just long enough to gauge Elfo’s reaction. Not that it mattered, there was no going back now. This was the point of no return. “So. This was a date, huh?” His eye was sharp as it fell across Elfo and the elf swallowed and finally, reluctantly, gave a nod. “And those other times... The dinners, all those fun little ‘let’s go see X stupid thing’, those were dates too?”

“Well… not exactly-” The elf hedged, then fell silent, swallowing nervously.

Outwardly, Luci was still straight-faced but internally he was having a meltdown. Too many emotions washed over him, warring with each other. It was too much to process. It was a good thing he’d had to have a good poker face in order to get by in Hell, when he was dealing with the constant disdain from the other demons for his low rank and small size. He’d learned to not show the hurt too much.

_And he'd learned to not show his excitement, too much, either._

“They were,” Luci confirmed for the elf. Elfo sighed at that, raising a hand to swipe at his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry, was he? Normally Luci would have been either thrilled or feeling some strong secondhand embarrassment. Or both. At the moment, he actually felt a little…

_bad? Guilty? He wasn’t sure..._

“Are you mad?” Elfo said at last, voice small and resigned. “Do you not… want to be friends anymore.”

“I was never your friend.” Luci snapped back automatically, without thinking. It was force of habit. But when he saw Elfo flinch, he shook his head. “Sorry.” Was that… really coming from his mouth. Both of them froze at the sound of the strange word emerging from the demon’s mouth. Elfo had a confused look, a little wild-eyed, like a cornered animal. He knew something was wrong now too.

Luci sighed at that. So much for going about this in a marginally cool way. But at least he could console himself that this wasn’t the stupid sappy romantic moment that Elfo had likely been imagining. “Okay. Maybe… a bit of a… like a distant friend. An acquaintance.” Liar. He raised his head, his ears giving a hesitant twitch. His tail was half curled behind him into a question mark. “I didn’t think you’d ever say that.” He said at last. Then, dragged out from the very pit of his dark body, he found the words. “I hoped… a bit.”

The hitch in Elfo’s voice was loud, reverberating in his ears. “Luci?” He faltered, then eased forward, sliding down from his log until he was standing on shaky legs, just within touching distance. Luci had to flex his fingers to keep from reaching out. Fortunately, he didn’t have to. Elfo was leaning in, crossing that short distance between them and pulling Luci into a warm, faintly candy-scented embrace. Luci hesitated a few seconds before bringing his arms up around the elf in return.

Elfo’s shoulders were shaking a little and Luci wondered if he was crying, up until he pulled back and the sound was little hitching, high-pitched noises of laughter. It was barely this side of being hysterical and Luci recognized it for what it was. Relief. He felt it too

True, he had no idea what was going to happen now. There were still a lot of trees that they’d had to look past when it came to these feelings. What people would think. How the hell a demon and elf could express romantic feelings - if they could - whether their relationships with Bean might suffer for it… 

All the small details that had held Luci back before… they were still there, but for a moment, he was only seeing the big picture. Elfo loved him. He loved Elfo. The rest could be worked out.

“Stupid fortune cookie.” He muttered against Elfo’s shoulder. Elfo stiffened for a second, probably confused or something, then drew back with a strange look on his face. “What?”

Elfo’s lips twitched at the edges. “Nothing. Just…” He darted his gaze away for a moment, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I got a fortune cookie too, you know.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the slip of paper that he’d tucked away when Luci had been too preoccupied with his mockery. He held it out to the demon.

Luci took it in paws that still felt a little shaky. He unrolled it.

‘Take the chance and good fortune will smile on you.’ The paper read. 

“Generic but relevant,” Luci said thoughtfully. “So… is that why you asked me to go on a romantic walk?” 

Elfo flushed, right to the tips of his pointy green ears. “It didn’t hurt…” He said at last.

Maybe fortunes were still total nonsense. Cookies were hardly prophecies, after all. But if it meant Luci got what he really wanted, he could tolerate a little healthy superstition. 

“So. That place was… okay.” He smirked. “Good cookies, though.” He didn’t have to look to see Elfo’s answering nod. “Let’s go home.” He said, holding out one dark paw to Elfo. He smiled as the elf’s fingers curled against his own. 

As they walked back toward Dreamland, Luci glanced once more at the piece of paper with Elfo’s fortune on it before raising his paw and letting the breeze take it away. 

-

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
